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The cost of cleaning up the UK’s existing nuclear facilities has been estimated to be between £95 billion and £219 billion over the next 120 years.

Radioactive conditions within these facilities mean human access is highly restricted and much of the work will need to be completed by robots.

Bristol scientists are developing new robots

But existing robotics technology is not capable of completing many of the tasks required in decommissioning the nuclear plants.

Professor Alan Winfield and Professor Tony Pipe, both of UWE Bristol and the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, will contribute to the project alongside researchers from the universities of Manchester and Birmingham, as well as industrial partners Sellafield Ltd, EdF Energy, UKAEA and NuGen.

The consortium will develop robots which have improved power, sensing, communications and processing power.

They will also develop systems which are able to improve actions such as grasping and manipulation, computer vision and perception.

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Importantly, the robots will be autonomous – able to operate without direct supervision by humans.

Tony Pipe, professor of robotics and autonomous systems at UWE Bristol and deputy director of the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, said: “This project will allow Bristol Robotics Laboratory researchers to further develop, apply and then exploit their world-renowned expertise in advanced multi-robot and human-robot interaction systems to support this safety-critical domain, and hence achieve valuable societal and environment impact for the UK.”

Manchester University’s Professor Barry Lennox, who is leading the project, said: “This programme of work will enable us to fundamentally improve Robotic and Autonomous Systems capabilities, allowing technologies to be reliably deployed in to harsh environments, keeping humans away from the dangers of radiation.”

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Within the next five years, the researchers will produce prototype robots which will then be trialled in both active and inactive environments. It is anticipated that these trials will include using robotic manipulators to autonomously sort and segregate waste materials.

The technology will not only have potential for improving robots used at nuclear sites but also in other hostile environments such as space, under the sea and down mines or in situations such as bomb disposal and healthcare, which can be dangerous or difficult for humans.